Coke versus Pepsi, Republicans vs Democrats, The Canadiens versus the Maple leafs. Color-based rivalries for a color-coded reality. We’re simple people, and we like our confrontations to have as much complexity as a kindergarten color chart.

And the people selling us the conflict understand that, they understand the power of color on the subconscious. The opposing political party are so profoundly wrong, they makes us red with anger. That other commercial brand is so lame, it makes us blue in the face. The psychology of color takes on a completely different angle when you apply it to politics and aggressive marketing. The Green party has a green logo. That makes sense. But considering that red is the official color of communists and liberals, then why are the Republicans associated with red?

Turns out it’s just a coincidence. Apparently RED and BLUE were assigned alternatively between Democrats and Republicans each election by the media. But after the controversy of the 2000 George W. Bush election, where each district was fought tooth and nail between a red force and a blue force, well, each color stuck. And that’s how the Republican party ended up with the official color of liberals and communists.

I remember my high school history teacher telling us that back in the day, when Quebec was still ruled like a theological monarchy, that before every election, the clergy would advise their parishioners on how to vote with the following statement: ” Heaven is blue, and Hell is red, makes sure you vote wisely”! That was referring to the socially progressive Liberal party and their red logo, as well as to the church-supporting Union National and their blue logo. There’s nothing like having the catholic church spell it out for us kindergarten educated electoral simpletons, using simple color-coded analogies. And then people wonder why Quebecers curse at the Catholic church so much.

And ultimately, if you look at it, why is it always Red vs Blue? Why not Brown vs Purple? Turquoise vs Canary Yellow? And apart from the fact that those might clash, I would venture to say that the main reason for RED and BLUE to always be picked for rivalries, is because, on average BLUE is always everybody’s favorite color. The sky is blue, the ocean is blue, what’s not to like? And RED is the color that will always “pop out” the most. Unless you put it next to some pink, but then again, pink is just some “light red” if you get down to it.

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NATNOTE : Any similarities to existing brands and their trademarked logos, is a coincidence, unless used specifically for satirical purposes.

They say a democrat is a republican who never got robbed. And if they’re implying that one’s political outlook is generally directly related to one’s environment and life experience, I think they might be right.

I’ve seen people switch back and forth from being anti-conformists to being pro-establishment, from being federalists to being separatists, from being left-wingers to being right-wingers, from being fiercely atheist to being religious. Belief systems are like jackets. Some people dress the same way their whole lives, other like to play dress-up.

So, the good news is: Even thought there might be a lot of people right now that are against the idea of switching to a digital democracy, that doesn’t mean that this cannot be easily changed. You just need the right context for it, whether it’s a string of political scandals, or it’s the influence or a neighboring country that’s running a governmental system with a little more legitimacy than ours.

*NATNOTE: That illustration is a sketch I made some 15 years ago or so… And back then I had a hard time convincing my friends that one day technology might allow us to have a real online democracy, instead of the old rotary system of deciding who decides for us. People said I was crazy. But some 15 years later, when we live in an era where internet technologies have infiltrated almost all aspects of our lives, it’s not so crazy anymore.

Like this:

In a representative democracy we’re able to go vote on who’s gonna be deciding for us. That’s like, if you went to the grocery store, and you were able to decide who’s gonna do the shopping for you, but you’re not allowed to walk in and make the purchases yourself. Even though it’s your money! Basically you’re given the choice between a guy in a plaid shirt who says he’s a good shopper, and some dude in a polka dot shirt who says he’s good at spotting items that are on sale.

So, you try to explain to them your family’s dietary needs. But the best you get out of them is a shrug. So you take a leap of faith, and decide to hand over your wallet, with all your food budget for the week inside it, to the guy in the plaid shirt.

And, an hour later, the guy in the plaid shirt comes out with a shopping cart full of candy, soda pop, and sugary treats. You explain to him that someone in your family has diabetes and you ask him to go back in and follow your grocery list. But the only answer you get is: ” If you don’t like my choices, go ahead and choose somebody else to do your shopping for you!”

So a week goes by, and without any other alternatives, you end up going back to the only grocery store available in your area. You think about it for a long time, and you decide to give your wallet, with all your food budget for the week, to the dude in the polka dot shirt. But this time, you make sure he sees the grocery list in your wallet. All you get is a shrug. But you have hope. You’re hoping it’s an affirmative shrug.

And an hour later, the dude with the polka dot shirt comes out with a shopping cart full of beer, bacon and beef jerky. You explain to him why that’s unacceptable, considering the dietary needs of your family. But you end with the same reply: “If you don’t like my choices, go ahead and choose somebody else to do your shopping for you!”

So you ask for the manager. He comes out wearing clothing with no distinctive pattern, pretending to be neutral. You explain your situation, and ask if you could go in and do the shopping yourself, like they used to do in the olden days. To that, the manager replies: ” Sure, in ancient Greece people used to be able to walk into their grocery stores and do the shopping themselves. But that was a long time ago. Now-a-days, people are too lazy to care or get involved. So they eat whatever we decide they should eat. If you don’t like it, feel free to try and start your own grocery store. That is if you can get the required permits!” and with that, the manager walks off, laughing.

So yeah! Basically, I think we should all be out there, trying to start our own metaphorical grocery stores, where we’re able to decide how our money is spent. In ancient Greece, they used to have real democracies where all the citizens of one town would get together once a week, and vote, debate and legislate all through the day. Unlike us, they were able to vote for themselves on actual law projects. They didn’t have to decide on who’s gonna be doing the voting for them.

I think one day, eventually, a new modern system of governance will arise. One that will actually give the electorate the option to speak for itself, instead of being required to put up with people pretending to be speaking on our behalf.

But maybe that’s just me. I could be wrong. I got a feeling that there’s also a lot of people out there that are completely happy to be consuming bacon, beer and sugary treats, week after week, without having any choice in the matter.